Leo Tolstoy

Leo TolstoyCount Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

A person who doesn’t recognize the beneficence of suffering has not yet begun to live a rational, real life.

—Leo Tolstoy

Just as all the water will flow out of a barrel if there’s so much as one little hole in it, so all the joy of love will drain out of your soul if in your soul there is enmity toward so much as a single person.

—Leo Tolstoy

Wise and holy people, the teachers of humanity, simply manifest that which is common to all people. The light they emit is nothing more than the revelation of the power that’s hidden within every human being.

—Leo Tolstoy

Wise and holy people, the teachers of humanity, simply manifest that which is common to all people. The light they emit is nothing more than the revelation of the power that’s hidden within every human being.

—Leo Tolstoy

There’s no reason to pity a person if he dies or loses his money, if he has no home or property, because none of those things belong to man. But there’s reason for pity if a person loses his one true possession, his highest blessing: his ability to love.

—Leo Tolstoy

Just as a good fruit tree produces its fruit and gives it to anyone who passes, so good people are ready to serve anyone they meet simply because they feel joy in service.

—Leo Tolstoy

Do what your body demands of you—attain glory, honor, wealth—and your life will be a hell. Do what your soul demands of you—attain humility, mercy, love—and you’ll have no need of any heaven. Heaven will be in your soul.

—Leo Tolstoy

Do what your body demands of you—attain glory, honor, wealth—and your life will be a hell. Do what your soul demands of you—attain humility, mercy, love—and you’ll have no need of any heaven. Heaven will be in your soul.

—Leo Tolstoy

He who listens to what others say about him will never be at peace.

—Leo Tolstoy

You might be in prison, sick, or deprived of all possibility of external action, but your inner life continues: you can blame, condemn, envy and hate others, and you can replace these feelings with good ones. Every minute of your life is yours, and no one can take it from you.

—Leo Tolstoy

You might be in prison, sick, or deprived of all possibility of external action, but your inner life continues: you can blame, condemn, envy and hate others, and you can replace these feelings with good ones. Every minute of your life is yours, and no one can take it from you.

—Leo Tolstoy

You must never stop on the path to self-perfection. As soon as you feel more interest in the external world than your soul, you’ve stopped.

—Leo Tolstoy

Wealth is like manure. It stinks when it piles up, and it’s only useful when it’s scattered.

—Leo Tolstoy

It’s stupid for one person to consider himself better than other people, but it’s even stupider for an entire nation to consider itself better than other nations. And every nation, the majority of every nation, lives in this stupid and harmful sin.

—Leo Tolstoy

It’s stupid for one person to consider himself better than other people, but it’s even stupider for an entire nation to consider itself better than other nations. And every nation, the majority of every nation, lives in this stupid and harmful sin.

—Leo Tolstoy

All anger is the result of powerlessness. Jean Jacques Rousseau

—Leo Tolstoy

They say that a good person can’t help but be angry with bad people. If this is true, then the better a person is, the angrier he must be. In reality, however, it’s the other way around: the better a person is the gentler and kinder he is with all people.

—Leo Tolstoy

They say that a good person can’t help but be angry with bad people. If this is true, then the better a person is, the angrier he must be. In reality, however, it’s the other way around: the better a person is the gentler and kinder he is with all people.

—Leo Tolstoy

There is no goal that can justify lies.

—Leo Tolstoy

Never forget the good that people have done for you; tell others about it and try to repay them with good as well.

—Leo Tolstoy

Salvation doesn’t come from rituals, mysteries, or the revelations of this or that religion, but from a clear awareness of the meaning of your life.

—Leo Tolstoy

He who talks a lot does little. A wise person is always afraid that his words will be greater than his deeds. Therefore, he’s more usually silent and speaks only when it is necessary for others rather than himself.

—Leo Tolstoy

He who talks a lot does little. A wise person is always afraid that his words will be greater than his deeds. Therefore, he’s more usually silent and speaks only when it is necessary for others rather than himself.

—Leo Tolstoy

We only truly live when we live for others. It sounds strange, but try it and you’ll see that it’s true.

—Leo Tolstoy

If you see that the organization of society is bad and wish to correct it, you should know that there’s only one way to do it: all people must become better. And in the task of making people better you have power over only one thing: making yourself better.

—Leo Tolstoy

If you see that the organization of society is bad and wish to correct it, you should know that there’s only one way to do it: all people must become better. And in the task of making people better you have power over only one thing: making yourself better.

—Leo Tolstoy

If a person only thinks about himself and seeks his own benefit in everything, he’ll never be happy. If you want to live for yourself, live for others. Seneca

—Leo Tolstoy

My religion is to love all living things. Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub al-Tartushi

—Leo Tolstoy

The more a person lives for others, the freer and more joyful is his life. The more he lives for himself alone, the more his life is constricted and painful.

—Leo Tolstoy

If you want to find an example to copy, look for it among simple, humble people. True greatness, which not only refrains from putting itself on display but isn’t even conscious of its own greatness, is only found among such people.

—Leo Tolstoy